Richard Anderson

Birth name
Richard Norman AndersonDate of birth (location)
8 August 1926,
Long Branch, New Jersey, USA

Richard Norman Anderson was born on 8 August 1926.

His parents moved the family to Los Angeles when he was 10 years old, and it was during this time that he became interested in the acting world; he was fascinated by the movies as a child, and after high school he went to MGM Studios to try out.

At first his time at MGM Studios involved nothing more than working in the post room. There was a further delay to his move into the acting world when he served in the US army for one year during the Second World War.

When the war finished, Anderson returned to Los Angeles where he studied at the then famous ‘American Lab’ in Hollywood. By 1947 he had made several theatre appearances and in 1949, Cary Grant’s wife, Betsy Drake, who was impressed by his acting ability, whispered into someone’s ear at MGM convincing them to give Anderson a chance at acting.

Anderson was signed up with MGM on a six-year contract, during which time he made 26 movies.

By the time Anderson took the role of Oscar Goldman, the director of OSI in The Six Million Dollar Man in 1973, he had been in over 60 films and TV movies.

His character, Oscar Goldman, did not appear in the pilot Cyborg: The Six Million Dollar Man. He came instead during the second TV movie of the SMDM Wine, Women, and War.

Anderson has three children by his wife Katherine Thalberg, the daughter of director Iving Thalberg and actress Norma Sherer. However, it is said that he now lives alone.

Lee Majors once described Anderson as somebody who has a certain style, with a lot of class: “I can be all dressed up and he can be wearing a sweater, and people don’t even notice me.” said Majors.